Abbey highlights £16,000 cost of moving home

16 May 2007

Britons spend £16,000 on average each time they move home, Abbey has reported. With the average Briton moving home between three and four times in their lives, the total lifetime cost of home moving totals £54,400, the mortgage lender estimated.

Getting a property in a fit state for sale is just the first step.

Homeowners then go on to employ financial advisers, lawyers, estate agents and finally removal firms to get the house move off the ground.

Stamp duty on all homes worth more than £125,000 is an additional burden.

But the Abbey 'no upfront costs' mortgages can slash the cost of moving, the lender vows, by cutting £2,000 in fees and charges, one eighth of the total cost of moving.

Customers' upfront costs including legal fees, land registry, and mortgage valuation and booking fees are removed from the cost of the mortgage.

"With the average Briton expecting to spend over two years annual average salary just meeting the costs of professional fees and stamp duty of their three or four moves, homeowners clearly need all the help they can get," Abbey's head of mortgages, Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, remarked.